[jeremywilhelm]

Something you should all take into consideration with everyone, even Backlunds skating, is that the skating instructor for the prospects pretty much re-tooled every single players skating posture and stride this year. He is changing the push off motion of the players stride to eliminate toe dig, which is a bad habit that pretty much every player can get into when they are not constantly being observed.

He said that Backlund has the best stride and posture of any of the players but that, even then, he has work to do.

He also said that the veterans on the Flames dread when he shows up at the beginning of the year because this new style of skating stride that he is implementing is totally different than what older players are used to.

I think this is what Sarich was doing in ice sessions this week when someone had seen him.

He explains his theory a bit on the flames NHL video site.

This could be why some of the prospects look slower than normal, or look a little off, especially Cameron who said in the video that he is learning a new way to skate (ad libbed).

Edit: I would imagine it is pretty tough to focus on puck handling or shooting if the coaches are harping on proper skating position and stride.

I know in my sport, when I had to fundamentally change my entire posturing and motion, I looked like a complete fool for well over a month until muscle memory was established.